Raphaely kept the door to SA open for Jewish refugees

When Leo Raphaely wrote to his cousin in Berlin in the 1930s, asking her to spread the word that there were opportunities for Jews in South Africa, he could hardly have known how important that message would become. 

As conditions for Jews in Nazi Germany deteriorated and opposition to Jewish immigration grew in South Africa, Raphaely became deeply involved in helping refugees reach safety, personally signing hundreds of the financial guarantees required for immigrants and organising many more. His efforts became intertwined with the story of the SS Stuttgart, which arrived in Cape Town on 27 October 1936 carrying hundreds of German Jewish refugees. 

His granddaughter Carolyn, a journalist, has pieced together his story through family documents, memoirs, and historical research. 

Raphaely’s commitment to other Jews had begun decades earlier. His father, Max, founded the Chevrah Kadisha in Johannesburg and became its first president in 1888, and by the age of 19, Raphaely was involved in communal work. He met newly arrived Jewish immigrants and helped them find accommodation, and prepared bodies for burial. 

“I think that probably prepared him for his later communal work and shaped the way he felt about helping people, particularly his efforts to help Jews fleeing Europe,” Carolyn said. 

By the 1930s, that commitment had taken on new urgency. Between 1933 and 1936, antisemitism was growing in South Africa, with political movements campaigning against Jewish immigration. At the same time, conditions for Jews in Nazi Germany were rapidly worsening. 

Raphaely recognised both the danger facing German Jews and the opportunity provided by South Africa’s immigration laws, under which German Jewish immigrants could enter using financial guarantees rather than having to provide the money themselves. 

In 1936, amid mounting pressure to restrict Jewish immigration, the South African government announced that from 1 November, financial guarantees would no longer be accepted and immigrants would instead have to provide a £100 cash deposit. As many German Jews had already been stripped of much of their money and possessions, the requirement threatened to make immigration considerably more difficult. It created an urgent race to get refugees into South Africa before the new rules took effect. 

The SS Stuttgart arrived in Cape Town just days before the deadline. 

According to Carolyn, Raphaely’s involvement appears to have begun when he tried to persuade his cousin to leave Germany, after Hitler came to power in 1933, and settle in South Africa. 

“He pointed out that there was a loophole in South Africa’s Quota Act that allowed German Jews to enter the country provided they had a valid passport and a financial guarantee. Importantly, he asked his cousin to circulate this information. Somehow, the letter eventually reached the Hilfsverein der Deutschen Juden, a Jewish aid organisation. The letter was circulated to Jewish communities throughout Germany, and Leo was then inundated with requests for help.” 

Though Raphaely provided refugees with various forms of assistance, his primary role was organising and securing the financial guarantees required by law. He personally signed hundreds and persuaded other members of the community to provide guarantees of their own. 

“It wasn’t easy to secure these guarantees. Had Leo been called upon to honour all the guarantees he signed, he could have found himself in serious financial difficulty. However, I think only one or two were ultimately called in.” 

For Carolyn, her grandfather’s willingness to take that risk reflected a deeply held sense of responsibility towards other Jews. “He felt very strongly that it was the non-negotiable duty of every Jew to assist his Jewish brothers and sisters. 

“He was a very generous person, but also headstrong and determined. I think one of the things that defined his personality was his sense of duty, responsibility, and obligation. Helping others was simply second nature to him,” she said. 

Nearly a century later, Raphaely’s role in helping German Jews find refuge in South Africa may be little known, but the lives made possible by those guarantees form part of his legacy. 

In 1961, 25 years after the arrival of the Stuttgart in South Africa and in recognition of Raphaely and his wife Judith’s efforts, German Jewish refugees who’d arrived between 1933 and 1936 organised a jubilee dinner in Cape Town. 

They presented a cheque for R10 000 to the Cape Council of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD) to establish a bursary fund for Jewish students in their honour. Although the funds were subsequently absorbed into other SAJBD accounts, the Raphaelys’ grandchildren re-established the bursary in their honour in 2015, offering future generations the opportunity to build better lives of their own.